Mazda champions in EP, STL and FA

Mazda champions in EP, STL and FA

Matt Reynolds, Danny Steyn and Mirl Swan take titles on the final day of the SCCA National Championship Runoffs

On the final day of the 2018 SCCA National Championship Runoffs, held Oct. 16-21 at the 2.52-mile, 12-turn Sonoma Raceway in Northern California, three more Mazda drivers claimed SCCA club racing national championships. Titles were earned in E Production, Super Touring Lite and Formula Atlantic. In total, seven Mazda drivers won championships and Mazda drivers filled 17 other podium positions in 11 different classes.

The E Production race was expected to be a battle between Matt Reynolds and his second-generation MX-5 and Northern Californian Glen McCready’s third-gen MX-5. Indeed, McCready scored the pole and Reynolds provided the Mazda lockout of the front row. But when the green flag dropped, Reynolds, of Fair Oaks, Texas, reminded everyone why he was already a two-time champion in the class, jumping into the lead and racing to a 23-second margin of victory in his No. 71 Reynolds Bros. Racing/Hoosier/JPM Mazda Miata. Reynolds continues his pattern of scoring championships in even-numbered years, having previously won in 2014 and ’16. Aaron Downey finished third in his RX-3, with Joe Moser splitting the Mazda drivers and McCready ending up fourth.

“It feels great,” Reynolds said. “These are two great guys to share the podium with. Joe and I had a great race back at Mid-Ohio, and Aaron and I have been racing for years. He’s always right there, especially at the start of the race.

“We came out here [to Sonoma Raceway] in the summer to learn some things, and it’s definitely more technical than a lot of the stuff we have down in the south. [Texas is] all pretty flat, and this has a lot of off-camber, blind-apex turns. You have to suck it up and just go sometimes.”